Alan Pardew has upset Stuart Pearce by overseeing Newcastle’s acquisition of the eight and ninth recruits of the close season when they completed a joint £5m-plus deal for the much-coveted young Nottingham Forest duo Jamaal Lascelles and Karl Darlow. The pair were immediately loaned back to the City Ground, where they will continue their development under Forest’s new manager in the Championship.

Lascelles is an England Under-20 defender and Darlow a 23-year-old goalkeeper and Pearce is clearly unhappy about their departure, maintaining they have been allowed to leave Forest against his advice.

“We had an offer from Newcastle that I was made aware of last week,” he told the Nottingham Evening Post. “The figures that were mentioned – I said I would not do that deal when I was asked the question. I thought I could push their value up and that would be worth more in the long run. The first thing I heard today about things was when Jamaal Lascelles came in and told me that he had a medical at Newcastle at 2pm. That disappointed me greatly.”

The fact that Newcastle will be unable to field Lascelles and Darlow in a competitive game for another 12 months will be of little consolation to Pearce, whose board appear to have some serious placating to do.